Shock followed by intense sadness rolls through me, but I keep all the emotion off my face. I nod, not wanting to crush her incredibly fragile hope right now. “Okay.”
She eyes me skeptically. “You’re not going to try to talk me out of it?”
“Auri, if that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll work on.” We’ve already kind of started working towards that end, but I don’t think she let herself believe she could do it until now.
“Really?” she asks, and there’s so much hope in her eyes, it almost hurts me. She squeezes my hand. “I’m going to walk, Harper. One day. Thank you for believing in me.”
My heart cracks wide open. “Yes, you will, and I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen, Kiddo.” And then she shocks me when tears well up in her eyes. I go still and have absolutely no idea what to do. “What is it, Auri?”
She sniffles, and it just about breaks my heart. “You’re the o-only one that’s ever believed I could walk.”
My stomach drops, but I keep my face unchanged. I take in the earnestness in her face and see how badly she wants this, and my resolve grows. I have no idea if it’s possible for her to ever walk again, but I won’t rest until we’ve tried every single avenue. “Hey.” I wait for her eyes to lift to mine. “You're talkingto a girl who rides a dragon. I know what it’s like to believe in the impossible.”
She shocks me by throwing her arms around my neck. It takes me a moment to relax into her hug and wrap my arms around her. I absently wonder if I should tell her older, over-protective brother what we decided or just keep it to myself. Before we end the hug and I help her lay down, I decide I’d better keep this one to myself. I’ve just stepped back from tucking Auri in for the night when there’s a knock on the door. I walk over to the door and open it a crack, not really surprised to see Rauk. I lift a brow in question. He pushes on the door and steps into the room. “Come on in,” I tell him sarcastically. When he doesn’t say anything, I cross my arms over my chest. “Was there something you needed?”
“I’m sleeping in here tonight.”
Chapter 34
I turn to him and stare at him like he’s lost his mind because obviously he has. “No, you’re not.”
“We’re outside of the Dragon Kingdom, and we’re staying in practically a stranger’s castle. I’m sleeping in here.”
I hold up a hand. “Okay, we’re in Rysden’s castle. He's the king here, in case you don’t remember. I’m pretty sure we couldn’t be safer. And also, he’s not a stranger. None of them are. They’re my friends. Now, go out so we can sleep.” I look back at Auri and pause. “I mean unless you want to be in the room with Auri; I get that. If so, I can just go to another room. But whatever you decide, please hurry. I'm cold and tired and want to go to bed.”
“I want Harper to stay in here,” Auri says quietly from the bed.
“Oh.” I shrug. “I guess the decision is made; that was easy. All right. We’ll see you in the morning. Good night.” I try to shoo him towards the door, but he just stands there.
Finally, he looks over at Auri. “Night, Auri.”
“Goodnight, Rauk.” Her voice is quiet, sleepy now.
He looks over to me. “Night, Harper.”
“Good night.” I shut the door before he finds a way to stay longer. I'm exhausted and just want to sleep. It literally takes me seconds to get ready for bed. I crawl in next to Auri. “Night, Auri,” I whisper.
“Night, Harper.”
I wake up early the next morning, which is not my usual. But after trying several times to go back to sleep, I finally climb out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. I nearly trip over something or someone. I keep my muttered oath to myself, so I don’t wake anybody up as I stare down at the big body on the floor. Why Rauk is sleeping in here on the hard floor, I have no idea. I sneak past him, grab my clothes, and change quickly and quietly in the bathroom. I slip out of the room and tie my hair into a braid as I go. When I get downstairs, there’s nobody in the main room. On a hunch, I open the door to the basement and descend the stairs quietly. I hear the low murmur of voices and know the guys are down here. I get to the bottom of the stairs and am just about to call out a greeting to Rysden and Lox when Rysden curses and steps back. “Again,” he demands to Lox. Lox holds up his sword, and they start again. But just seconds later, Lox knocks the sword from Rysden’s grasp. I step back into the stairwell where I can observe but not be seen. Rysden opens and squeezes his fist, and I watch in silence.
Lox steps back, studying his friend. “You can’t go out there like this.” Rysden says something too low for me to catch, but Idon’t have to hear him to know he’s not happy about whatever Lox said. Rysden steps back and stretches his neck from side to side. “Have you found a replacement for Brak yet?” Lox asks quietly.
“Yeah. Reginold.” He lifts his head. “He was killed two days ago. I don’t think he’s going to work to lead,” he says in a dark voice.
Lox, to his credit, doesn’t respond to Rysden’s anger. “We’ll figure it out,” he simply says in return.
“You want it?” Rysden asks.
Lox doesn’t bat an eye. “No. I know my place, and it’s not leading your army. I'm your friend and have your back in any battle; but I don’t want to be under your command.” He grins. “No offense.”
“Offense taken,” Rysden growls. “You always say that.”
“Yep, and I’ll keep saying that every time you ask me about becoming captain of the guard.” Rysden launches an attack again, but Lox knocks his sword from his hand only a few minutes in. Rysden’s curse is much louder this time. I take that as my cue to disappear and make my way up the stairs quietly. I was going to ask about training with them like I used to do all the time, but if there’s one thing I know about Rysden, he won’t want me to see his weakness like this. My mind runs wild as I make it to the top. Things are not good here in the Wolf Kingdom. Their king is injured and not back to his strongest yet, their captain of the guard is gone, and it sounds like the next guy in command is also dead, and Farrah is probably pregnant. I think of the Jaguar Kingdom and what Kinsley and Kaldar are goingthrough. Everybody here is saying it’s so much worse there, and I got that from all the guivres yesterday. How bad is it there? The need to see Kinsley and make sure she’s okay rides me hard, and I can’t sit still. I can’t just stay here and not do anything about it, when I literally can do something about it.
Redara, want another repeat of yesterday?
Her response comes quick.Thought you’d never ask.
